Who do you trust?

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 The hired man, since he is not the shepherd and doesn’t own the sheep, leaves them and runs away when he sees a wolf coming.

John 10:11-12 (HCSB)

Here is an important truth for every Christ follower. You must understand this and even count on it. People will let you down. I meet so many people who reject Christ, or drop out of Church or are very sarcastic towards Christ followers because they have been hurt or disappointed by others.

Jesus reminds us that He is the good shepherd and He lays down His life for His sheep, but others will let you down. I have told our church family, that at some point I will let you down because I am Human and sinful just like everyone else.

The lesson here is two fold. Don't allow yourself to become disgruntled with God's people because they aren't God. Second, deal with others with grace and mercy. We all need some forgiveness from time to time.

Just a little bit more

But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."

1 Sam 16:7 (NASB95)

We need to remember that what God is looking for is a Christ follower. A Christ follower is someone who is most concerned about his heart and not his outward appearance. Watch this video for a cute reminder of this spiritual truth.

Fellowship: connect with God

Listen! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and have dinner with him, and he with Me.

Rev 3:20 (HCSB)

I am glad you are reading today. Hopefully it means that you have committed yourself at least for this moment to fellowship with Jesus. That's exactly what He wants. I don't understand why and it may perplex your mind as well. Why would God want to fellowship with me? I don't know but it is clear from Scripture that He does. Jesus tells us in Revelation, "I am knocking so that I can come and fellowship with you."

Jesus is talking here to Christ followers specifically. He is knocking and calling so that He can sit at a spiritual dinner with us. Are we ready and willing to sit and dine with Him? How much time are we willing to commit to Him? Where on our priority list does spiritually dining with Jesus fit in?

Discipline: proof of connectedness to Christ

As many as I love, I rebuke and discipline. So be committed and repent.

Rev 3:19 (HCSB)

Growing up I never liked to be disciplined. I would suspect that is the same for you. Truth be told we don't like it as adults either. Now one likes to be corrected or disciplined but it is necessary. As a child we needed our parents discipline. As a Christ follower we need God's discipline. In fact we should understand it as proof of our connectedness to Christ. Jesus said, "If I love you i will rebuke and discipline you." This is "as needed" of course and if you are like me it is needed more often than I care to admit.

His admonition to us is when He rebukes and disciplines us be committed to Him and our relationship with Him to repent. Remember that repent means to turn around and go in the other direction.

This is a good word for us and it just may be we need to be reminded today that Jesus loves us and we need to be committed to becoming all that He wants us to be. For His glory and our best!

How Far can we go?

they proceeded to come to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the sons of Israel in the wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh; and they brought back word to them and to all the congregation and showed them the fruit of the land. 27 Thus they told him, and said, "We went in to the land where you sent us; and it certainly does flow with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. 28 "Nevertheless, the people who live in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large; and moreover, we saw the descendants of Anak there.

Num 13:26-28 (NASB95)

Maybe that seems like an odd question to you but consider this. Sometimes are faith doesn't go far enough. The spy's went out to check out the land. They had enough faith that the land would be great, like God had said, but not enough faith to go take the land.

When it was a matter of land their faith was strong. When it was a matter of risking of value to them, their lives, it is another story.

We are often just as faithless. We talk about having faith but when we are put to the test we fail. We trust God until we are put in a position that in trusting we are taking a risk.

So how far can we go? How far will your faith go? How far will you go in obedience to God?